Preparations on the West Coast

Remember What I Said About All Our Wildfires?

Yet another list we'd rather not be at the top of.

Alaska News

... for ex-pats and other fans.

McKinley Fire update: 70% containment

Swan Lake Fire update: Cooper Landing in "Set" Condition to evacuate

Deshka Landing Fire update: 70% contained

4.1-magnitude earthquake south of Anchorage last night

Anchorage PD fatally shoots man after he attacked police canine with a sword


Our extreme drought conditions continue, although there's a chance of some rain by Monday. We'll see. Meanwhile, leaves have turned and are falling because of the dry conditions.

Wildfires: Update

McKinley Fire: first pictures

Deshka Landing Fire closing in on another residential area

Levelock Fire crosses dozer lines

Alaska calls for reinforcements from Lower 48 firefighters

Swan Lake Fire 20% contained

Smoky Skies in the Forecast


Readers, please pray for rain for south-central Alaska, if you're the praying sort. We could sure use the moisture to break this drought, knock down the fires, and help clear the air. Some of us are having trouble breathing.

Wildfire Season Worse Than Ever

More than 50 structures burned; McKinley fire jumps the Parks Highway


Firefighters fighting blaze sparked in Anchorage Point

The Swan Lake fire on the Kenai Peninsula has rekindled, and other fires have started. Cooper Landing has been evacuated, and there are also highway closures north of Seward and Homer.

Over Two Million Acres

Fires expand in Alaska, now total over 2 million acres

Rainy Pass Fire (Photo by Alaska Division of Forestry Air Attack)

ANCHORAGE (KTUU) - The acres burned by wildfires in Alaska has now exceeded 2 million after dry weather in the past 48 hours caused many Southwest fires to expand.

Yesterdays conflagrations puts the total acreage at an estimated 2,056,337.5.

Among the biggest jumps was the Smith Creek Fire, which grew from about 12,000 acres to 53,108 acres, causing the evacuation of Donlin Gold mine on Tuesday. Managers there used heavy equipment to create a control line and conducted firing operations to defend the 80 structures in the area.

Over 10,000 lightning strikes in Southwest added six new fires to the 585 now recorded in the state this year. In Southwest Alaska alone, about 410,000 acres are burning.

The Lost Jack Fire (previously called the Salmonberry Fire) is one of the top priorities in Southwest. Eighteen smokejumpers and six helitack personnel are at work fighting the fire, which is only about 100 acres, but which is only three miles north of Nikolai, a village of about ninety people.

Fire Danger Remains High in Anchorage Area

ANCHORAGE (KTUU) - The burn ban continues in Anchorage despite the city getting some light rain Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. According to John See with the Anchorage Fire Department, the burn ban continues because the fuels—particularly beneath the tree canopy—remain dry. Basically, it will take more rain to dampen those fuels.

Though the clouds will stick around for most of the week, little rain is in the forecast.

Anchorage received .35 inches of rain during the overnight storm. This means the city has received .42 inches of rain for the month. The average by this point in July is 1.32 inches of rain. The last time Anchorage saw more than .1 inches of rain in a day was May 26, 2019.

The storm last night produced rain across most of Southcentral. Palmer and Wasilla each saw .8 inches of rain. Iliamna saw the most in Southcentral with 1.24 inches of rain. Kenai received .28 inches of rain.

US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, and National Parks Service lifted campfire restrictions in the Kenai Peninsula area Wednesday.

Alaska News: Over 1 Million Acres Burned

Wildfires in Alaska have burned more than 1 million acres in 2019, according to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center.

Although around 120 fires are burning around the state, 20 are staffed incidents while 90 others are being monitored.

Incident management crews from around the country have flown to Alaska to assist in fire management.

As of Tuesday morning, 4,055 personnel were actively engaged in wildfire management across the country. More than half of those personnel are in Alaska, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center.

The 20 fires that are being actively managed in Alaska have burned 552,686 acres, which is more than the acreage burned by all other active wildfires in the country combined.


I guarantee you won't see this on the national news, because they don't care about Alaska unless Sarah Palin is somehow involved. (Never mind that she doesn't live here anymore, and hasn't been a "thing" here in years.)

4.5 Millions Acres Consumed

Looks like we're going to set another record: largest amount of acreage destroyed by wildfires.

ANCHORAGE -
A wildfire burning near the trans-Alaska pipeline grew by about 3,200 acres overnight Sunday.

As of 11 a.m. Monday, 495 people are working to contain the Aggie Creek Fire, which has reached 31,755 acres in size according to a Monday update on the expanding blaze.

Crews had completed two and a half miles of burnout operations along the pipeline Sunday, in the vicinity of Pump Station 7, but reported no new burnouts Monday. Officials reported the fire to be 37 percent contained Monday.

The lightning-caused fire has so far cost at least $7.8 million to fight.

In addition to the Aggie Creek Fire, there are 304 active fires burning across the state which have scorched nearly 4.5 million acres. So far this year there have been 671 wildfires in Alaska, including about 300 human-caused fires.

In related news:

ANCHORAGE -
Two Anchorage residents have been charged with a variety of crimes in connection with the ignition of last month’s devastating Sockeye Fire near Willow, which destroyed dozens of homes and took weeks to contain.

A Monday statement from the Alaska Division of Forestry says 59-year-old Greg Imig and 42-year-old Amy Dewitt were charged after an investigation of the 7,220-acre fire which started on June 14.

“State forestry fire investigators determined the cause of the fire to be an illegal, escaped debris burn pile located in forested lands at a recreational cabin owned by Imig,” Forestry officials wrote. “Both Imig and Dewitt are facing a variety of charges that include three counts of reckless endangerment, criminally negligent burning, failure to obtain a burn permit, burning without clearing an area, allowing the spread of fire and leaving a fire unattended.”

Fires Are Spreading Like Crazy

In a copyright story from the Business Insider:

So far in June, Alaska has seen 391 wildfires, with 152 of these starting up on the weekend of June 21-22, totaling more than 1.1 million acres of scorched earth, according to the Alaska Division of Forestry (DOF).

Alaska is no stranger to wildfires. The Alaska Division of Air Quality reports that in 2004, the state saw 701 fires which consumed more than 6.5 million acres of land, but they are on track to break that record before long.

(REUTERS/Matt Snyder/Alaska Division of Forestry) 

The Bogus Creek Fire burns in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Alaska, in this Alaska Division of Forestry picture taken June 7, 2015.

Alaska DOF official, Tim Mowry, told NBC News that the fires were caused by a relatively dry spring which left plains vulnerable to ignition via lightning, but what was unusual was the volume and variety of the fires.

"We have almost 300 fires going right now," said Mowry.

Trees are consumed by flames as an out of control wildfire burns near Willow, Alaska, in this picture courtesy of Mat-Su Borough taken June 14, 2015. (REUTERS/Mat-Su Borough/Stefan Hinman) 

Fires actually serve a purpose in nature, as the charred vegetation returns minerals to soil, and makes way for young shoots to surface and provide food for animals like moose, but these fires are above and beyond the course of nature. The concentration and location of the fires make them a particular threat to people and structures.

The Alaska DOF tweeted the following to illustrate just how much these fires have gotten out of control:

This map from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center helps put Alaska's wildland fire situation in perspective. pic.twitter.com/gQx8g2wkNs
— AK Forestry (@AK_Forestry) June 24, 2015

Below is a map of wildfires nationwide from the National Interagency Fire Center. Alaska (bottom left) is a clear outlier:

(National Interagency Fire Center)

NBC reports that "The state [of Alaska] has sent 2,700 firefighters to combat the blazes, with hundreds of firefighters sometimes battling a single fire. Many fires are so far from populated areas that the state simply monitors them or leaves them alone entirely."

An Alaska State trooper vehicle sits on the Parks Highway near an out of control wildfire burning in Willow, Alaska, in this Alaska State trooper picture taken June 14, 2015.  (Reuters / Alaska State Troopers)

The Washington Post pointed out that these fires are troubling not only in their immediate impact on the landscape, but also in their potential to contribute to global warming:

"A major climate fear is that thawing permafrost will unleash massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the air as this plant life decomposes. Intense wildfires can burn not only trees but upper soil layers, which can hasten the thawing of permafrost (and also expose the ground more directly to the sun’s heat, which can also contribute to thawing)."

The setting sun is partially obscured by smoke from an out of control wildfire on the Parks Highway near Willow, Alaska, in this picture courtesy of Mat-Su Borough taken June 14, 2015.
(REUTERS/Mat-Su Borough/Stefan Hinman)

The National Weather Service in the Alaska region made the following tweet illustrating just how bad this year has already been for wildfires:

Alaska burns... Sadly, it won't be long until 2 million acres have burned. 2004 was bad but 2015 is already worse. pic.twitter.com/Pct89TrEtB

— NWS Alaska Region (@NWSAlaska) June 29, 2015

So the crisis of wildfires in Alaska seems to be burning on both ends of the candle, with the loss of millions of acres of forest also contributing to the release of carbon and potential warming of the climate.

The problem in Alaska is so widespread that there is little else to do besides hope that the remained er of the year brings rain and relief from the inferno.

Alaska's On Fire

As of 11 a.m. Friday, the State is tracking 321 active wildfires across Alaska which have burned over 400,000 1,000,000 acres (that figure as of Saturday morning).

local: less than 10 acres moderate: 10 to 250 acres (0.04-1 km²)

large: 250 to 2500 acres (1-10 km²) very large: more than 2500 acres (10 km²) 

Look how many "very large" fires there are. (click to enlarge)

'Tain't Friday Yet

This week is turning out to be a humdinger, what with near-record highs on Monday and Tuesday, lots of sunshine, dozens of new wildfires which have burned over 400,000 acres, and yesterday's 5.8-magnitude 'quake.

I'm quite ready to wrap this one up, and get on with the weekend.

* * * * *

I've been asked via e-mail why I don't blog about politics very often, lately.  Frankly, I'm sick of the whole mess. It feels like a waste of time to keep beating my head against a wall ... and just like doing that, it feels better when you stop.

I'm spending far less time trying to write, and more time staring out the windows, these days. Thinking about travel, about just getting away for awhile.

We'll be hitting the road in August, with one long driving trip/four-day weekend already planned. We'd like to visit Fairbanks again, and maybe take the Coastal Classic train to Seward, too. Just because.

Work plays an ever-decreasing role in my life as time off assumes a more important part. I'm okay with that. It probably doesn't help that many of my friends at work have either just retired, or are about to. Barring a sudden windfall (hey, it can happen) I won't be retiring any time soon.

But longer vacations are definitely in the mix.

* * * * *

And oh, yes: we saw Jurassic World last night. Not bad at all!

The production admittedly trod some familiar territory, but it's well done.  We enjoyed it, and isn't that what "entertainment" is all about?

You'll probably like it, too.

Monday Morning: Lots of News Today

First, a quick update: there's no news (yet) concerning our friend's missing brother-in-law. I will keep you posted.

* * * * *

Second, yesterday was the longest day of the year, in terms of daylight. Naturally enough, the skies clouded up overnight on Friday, and we've been socked in almost continuously, ever since. But what the heck ... at least it's not snowing, right?

* * * * *

Third: the wildfires are still burning to the north and south of us, but the northern fire is about 80% contained. The southern (Kenai) fire is only at about 20% containment, but far fewer homes are threatened, as the fire is burning in an unpopulated forest/wildlife refuge. Well, unpopulated by humans, anyway.

The Card Street Fire near Sterling is roughly one-fifth contained as a turn in weather conditions aids hundreds of firefighters on the ground and in the air, officials with the management team coordinating efforts against the blaze said Sunday.

There are over 2,000 firefighters now working around the clock to battle the flames. Over 1,100 of them are from the Lower 48, and we're grateful for their help.

* * * * *

Fourth: three more health insurers have pulled out of Alaska, leaving only two in the market. Thanks, Obamacare!

And oh yes, at least one of the remaining two companies has already announced a significant rate hike for this year.

* * * * *

And finally, do you recall that I recently mentioned how fake the various Alaska-based "reality" shows are?

The tip that launched an investigation into an Alaska reality TV family came from outside the state, Department of Revenue officials said Thursday.

Scott Stair, chief investigator for the department's criminal investigation unit, would not discuss in detail accusations that six members of the Brown family lied on Permanent Fund dividend applications.

Asked what application requirements the stars of "Alaskan Bush People" violated, Stair replied in an email. "They (the Browns) didn't meet the physical requirements for the PFD application between October 2009 and August 2012. That lead to false statements on the application."

I'd say, "Color me surprised." But why waste a crayon?

Friday: Midnight Sun & Wildfires Edition

Friday seemed a long time in coming, this week.


Wildfire update: the Mat-Su fire (called the Sockeye fire, if you're trying to look it up) is still at about 7,000 acres in size, but fire crews seem to have a handle on it. There's still plenty of drama ... 26 homes destroyed, including a captain with the Willow Fire Department lost his home and everything he owned, while battling fire elsewhere. His neighbors we able to save his 28 sled dogs, though.

And then there's this:

Alaskans menaced by what is now the nation’s top wildfire remained cautious Thursday, though the heart of the Card Street blaze had raged miles into the unpopulated Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, driven by winds from the west that quadrupled its size to 12,000 acres in the past day.  (Emphasis added - Ed.)

Meanwhile, here in Anchorage where all we've suffered is some smoke, weather guessers are predicting a temperature inversion tomorrow which could trap the smoke close to the ground. That would cause visibility and respiratory issues, so I hope they're wrong. It's certainly too warm to close the windows.

I've been interviewing vendors and soliciting bids for grounds-keeping, both summer and winter. This morning I went through the stack and narrowed it down to a single choice, and notified the losing bidders of that. But since it's early, and I don't have an e-mail address for the winner, I have to wait another half-hour before trying to call them.

We're only 2 days from the summer solstice, but the midnight sun has been with us for several weeks already (and will be around for several more). For example, we'll have 22 hours, 55 minutes of usable light today. This is the part of Alaskan summers that tourists flock here to see: it just doesn't get dark, this time of year.

Anchorage at midnight, in June